Indian giant Mahindra will launch two new electric vehicles in Australia

Two new electric vehicles from Indian auto giant Mahindra are set to hit Australian showrooms in the next two years, a company executive has told local media.

In Australia last week to launch the Mahindra Scorpio six-seater SUV in Australia, the brand’s first all-new model in a decade, company executives outlined Mahindra’s future electric vehicle plans.

While Mahindra has announced it will introduce up to six electric cars worldwide over the next few years, the executive said at least two of them will arrive in Australia by 2025.

Mahindra is also close to signing a component sharing deal with German auto giant Volkswagen for future electric vehicles.

In Australia last week, to launch the Mahindra Scorpio six-seater SUV in Australia, the company’s Asia Pacific head, Joydeep Moitra, outlined future electric vehicle plans for the Indian carmaker.

“We have the INGLO platform, which will be a common platform that will go under five or six new models. It is a flexible platform,” said Moitra.

The executive said Mahindra has forecast a “substantial” increase in the popularity of electric vehicles in India in “three to four years” and predicted that battery-powered vehicles could represent “between 25 and 30 percent” of India’s new car market. in this period of time.

“And that’s a big number, because the total market in India last year was over 3.5 million.”

If Mr. Moitra’s prediction is correct, the Indian market could soon be buying more than 1 million new EVs every year; equivalent size to the total Australian new car market today.

Mahindra will look to meet this demand with up to six new electric SUVs, which are expected between 2025 and 2030.

While Mahindra confirmed it will introduce up to six electric cars worldwide over the next few years, the executive said at least two of them will come to Australia.

This comes amid news that Mahindra will soon sign a deal with Volkswagen to share major components.

“First, without going into details, it’s about collaborating on components, especially key components for manufacturing (electric vehicles),” Moitra said.

Mahindra’s range of new electric vehicles will come under two new brands: XUV and BE. A Mahindra media release says the first five electric vehicles will be the XUV.e8, XUV.e9, BE.05, BE.07 and BE.09.

The first four of these new electric vehicles are said to be launched between 2024 and 2026, with between 170 and 290 kW, up to 80 kWh of battery capacity and up to 175 kW of fast charging.